The Force Is Strong in Star Trek!

To Infinity, and Beyond! I mean... um... Frak! Wait. No. I am... your father... Greedo... Bespin... Um... Oh, right! Star Trek prospered this weekend and will likely live long in theaters. More »

Is Fox Head Tom Rothman Dulling the Claws of 'Wolverine'?

If there's one important lesson that can be drawn from the blockbuster performance of Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight, it's that audiences aren't afraid of a comic-book movie that takes a walk on the dark, grim side. However, the same can't necessarily be said for Fox topper Tom Rothman (the bane of AICN) who greenlit two Fantastic Four movies, hired Brett Ratner to direct X3, and now is allegedly mucking with the X-Men spinoff Wolverine. Despite the fact that the gritty, Hugh Jackman-topped film was met with a giddy response at this year's Comic-Con, Jeff Wells says that Rothman is pressuring director Gavin Hood to make the movie more kid-friendly — and when Hood won't cave, Rothman is taking matters into his own hands: More »

Whither Our Superheroines? An Outraged Culture Demands To Know

In all the drama surrounding Edward Norton's Hulk trouble and Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr.'s gloriously checkered past, we've overlooked one of the more conspicuous problems afflicting this summer's superhero glut. To wit: Where are all the women? Are there any comics featuring female heroes whom some studio will take a chance shepherding to the screen? At least one commentator shares our concern at Vulture, and the prognosis isn't looking good: More »

From the mailbag: "I overheard someone blabbing that [former Jane and Sassy editor] Jane Pratt is planning a pow-wow with her old staff this week. Only the ones who worked for her (not Brandon Holley) are invited (Debbie, Josh, Jeff, Jauretsi, Lori, Bill, Eric, Erin, Kenya, Annemarie, Johan, Stephanie, Gigi). I'm dying to know if this is just a friendly gathering or is Jane plotting something? An old Sassy reader can only hope." Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes! Which makes Jane's last editor Brandon Holley, who we've also heard might be rallying the old troops towards some end or other, Madelyne Pryor?

Ben Silverman's Great Taste In Foreign TV Hits Rewarded By Emmy Voters

· X-Men fans, take heart: Tsotsi's Gavin Hood, not X-Men 3: The Last Gasp of a Once Vital Franchise's Brett Ratner, has signed on to direct Wolverine. [Variety] More »

Fox And Marvel Announce 'Magneto: The Early, Nazi-Hunting Years'

Fox and Marvel have announced they will be spinning off an X-Men character into his own movie. Not Wolverine, however, which is still listed as in development, but telepathic metal manipulator Magneto:
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Wolverine Named Most Powerful Make-Believe Person In Hollywood

Having exhausted nearly every permutation of that perennial entertainment publication chesnut, the Hollywood Power List, Entertainment Weekly has now turned to the realm of fictional players, rendering pop culture's most recognizable make-believe characters hopelessly insecure by assigning them meaningless, numbered potency rankings. And while Wolverine and his people can sleep tight knowing his mutant talents are very much appreciated, the Spongebob Squarepants and Deuce Bigalows of this world could find themselves frantically flipping pages, wondering how and when they let it all slip through their non-existent fingers: More »

Trade Round-Up: Mutants Vs. Malediction On Memorial Day

· Variety leads with the story, "Will 'Code' erode?," which asks how X-Men: The Last Stand will fare at the box office this weekend opposite the still strong Da Vinci Code. Leading us to wonder out loud, "Does the mere posing of a question really qualify as a news story?" Or, for that matter, a lame trade round-up joke? [Variety] More »

Short Ends: Jared Leto Would Like The World To Know He Is 'As Gay As A Goose'

· In an instant message interview with AOL Music today, Jared Leto announced to the world he's as "gay as a goose." He wisely waited until his fatty period was over, avoiding an embarrassing rejection by his new adoptive people. More »

Hugh Jackman Uses Halle Berry As His Sailor-Teasing Bait

Just two days after Ryan Seacrest's ass was extricated from a collapsed glass coffee table by some extremely secure firemen, "musical competition-emceeing heartthrobs surrounded by hunks in uniform" week continues with this photo of Tony Awards host and X-Men: The Last Stand star Hugh Jackman, with co-stars Kelsey Grammer and Halle Berry, in a morale-raising PR stop aboard the USS Kearsarge. At one point, USA Today reports, Jackman told the crowd, "Not everyone can get their photo with Halle, [but] I do have Halle's phone number here." The ruse instantly served its purpose, with all 1500 voracious servicemen pouncing on Jackman at once in a chaotic attempt at collecting the exclusive digits. White pants, caps, and scarves flew every which way, until all that was left was a massive, groaning mound of twisted male limbs. Minutes later, a battered Jackman crawled out with a wholely satisfied look on his face, the crumpled, blank piece of paper still clutched in his sailor-sullied hands. More »

CGI Facial Rejuvenation Arrives Too Late To Save Faye Dunaway

The latest advancement in computer generated effects—a convincing reversal of the human aging process—is on display (spoiler alert) in an early scene of X-Men: The Last Stand, in which Ian McKellen's Magneto and Patrick Stewart's Prof. Xavier are rendered 20 years younger for a flashback. As McKellen raved to reporters in Cannes about the technique ("It's as brilliantly done as airbrushing in a magazine. You cannot tell the difference,"), director Brett Ratner fretted about how the powerful technology could possibly change showbiz forever: More »

Hugh Jackman Is A Wolverine In The Sack

X-Men: The Last Stand star Hugh Jackman is about as versatile a performer as they come, always thrilling audiences regardless of whether he's sashaying his way through Tony Awards hosting duties, or roughing up mutant bad guys in a butch set of mutton chops and shiny adamantium claws. Jackman's biggest fan, however, has got to be his wife Deborra-Lee Furness (pictured left, and here, with Jackman's longtime producing companion John Palermo). Jackman took Furness' cougar paw in marriage a decade ago, and she has since bore the actor two adopted children—but that doesn't mean she doesn't know how to keep things fresh in the boudoir: More »

'X-Men' Ladies Forced To Answer Reporter's Obvious Superhero Questions

The X-chromosome-abundant cast members of X-Men: The Last Stand sat down for some frank, mutant girl talk with the AP in support of the movie's premiere at Cannes. Among their revelations: Anna Paquin suffers from a crippling case of superpower envy, while Halle Berry, still mistrustful of men, only wishes her character Storm could find some true romance:
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When Movie Promos Turn Ugly: Halle Berry Accuses DJ Of Racism

"Are we having a racist moment here?" Those are the words that brought a BBC radio interview to a screeching halt yesterday by Halle Berry, there to promote X-Men: The Last Stand with her co-star, Hugh Jackman. By way of flashback, let's piece back together what led up to it, with the help of the AP:
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'Mutant' New Synonym For 'Brokeback'

The ongoing X-Men saga has basically been one long, overreaching superhero allegory for growing up gay in an unwelcoming world: Imagine Brokeback Mountain, but replace Jack and Ennis' forbidden love with the mutant ability to singe sheep with their eye-lasers. With Hollywood's hottest new web presence Brett Ratner's third installment, X-Men: The Last Stand (you can view the trailer here), the metaphor reaches its natural conclusion: the "curing" of these mutant teens of what makes them different. In a roundtable discussion on SciFi.com featuring the film's leads, things got rather heated between Ian McKellen and co-star Hugh Jackman when Jackman argued that perhaps curing one's self of mutation isn't necessarily such a bad thing: More »

Brett Ratner Sends Us Tidings Of Comfort And Joy

Admittedly, after seeing Brett "Wolverstein" Ratner's 2005 holiday card featuring the beloved fauxteur dressed up as some sort of ferocious hedgehog and standing proudly front and center with his X-Men 3 cast, the feelings were bittersweet. Yes, we delighted in Halle Berry's failed attempt at keeping a straight face, to say nothing of the clever Semitification of Wolverine's name inside. But these were merely the fuzzy reiterations of a scanned greeting belonging to someone else, someone worthy. So imagine our delight when we received our very own card in the mail today! We still have no idea how it found its way past the various security clearances at Defamer HQ, but who can worry about protocol when Brett is personally thanking us for his "29 mentions in 2005!" (Truth be told, if he had added the word "hacktastic" to the search, he would have found four more.) More »

Hollywood Holiday Cards: Brett Ratner's X-Mas

Yes, this latest installment in our Hollywood Holiday Cards feature is a little blurry, but no amount of rubbing your eyes will change what you're seeing: Brett Ratner, the famed fauxteur currently shooting the latest X-Men project, dressed as some kind of mini-Wolverine at the center of his cast of mutants. (Click the image for a larger version.) At first, we thought that Ratner had wastefully demanded that his wardrobe department make him his own "Wolverstein" (the name of his character as revealed on the inside of the card) costume, conjuring images of the leather-clad director nearly beheading his DP with his claws while trying to demonstrate a needlessly showy camera move. But then we noticed how bunchy the legs of his pants seem around the ankles and figured he's just playing dress-up in Hugh Jackman's clothes, hopefully sparing the cast and crew unnecessary lacerations by their excitable director. More »